Joint Multiple Description Coding and Network Coding for Wireless Image Multicast

Multiple description coding (MDC) is an effective technique to combat transmission loss over unreliable lossy networks. Network coding which allows coding at the intermediate nodes in the network promises to increase throughput of the whole network and better utilizes network resources. To provide both robustness and efficiency for image multicast over wireless ad hoc networks, a scheme based on joint multiple description coding (MDC) and network coding is proposed in this paper. Multiple description lattice vector quantization (MDLVQ) is employed to encode an image at the source node, and different descriptions are transmitted on an individually or mixed base. Linear network coding is used to mix selected packets at the intermediate nodes provided that corresponding receivers can decode the mixed packet. At the destination nodes, received original packets and mixed packets can result in a reproduction with certain quality. Experimental results validate that the proposed scheme can benefit the image transmission with better reconstructed image quality, lower failure rate and less energy consumptions.